How Interval Working Can Boost Your Productivity
It was a broiling day under the merciless Colorado late summer sun when I received my first education in the benefits of interval training. I was running with a group of my fellow cadets in order to prepare for the next physical fitness test. There were around 30 of us running in two columns up and down the foothills of the Front Range. Our coach would blow a whistle and have the two in the back sprint to the front of the formation, then resume a jog until they were at the rear again. On and on it went, mile after mile, as we were whipped back into shape. Exhausted at the run's completion, I had to admit that the method kept it interesting if not fun and helped me cover more mileage at a faster overall pace than I would have running on my own.
Our work days can resemble a long slog of a run, can't they? Chained to our desks, dreading the next task, sometimes unable even to begin for the unpleasantness of what is to come. We procrastinate, we distract ourselves, we daydream---anything but getting down to the task at hand. Productivity inevitably suffers.
Would applying the interval training principles which keep workouts from being an unrelenting march of pain and tedium help us to avoid this sad fate and boost our productivity? Could it even make work---shudder---FUN?
Your roving correspondent conducted just this experiment and believes the results to be promising indeed.
There are---inevitably---a couple of prerequisites first.
- You must plan at least part of your day, at least to the extent of knowing the next task up in priority.
- You must have some flexibility in your day. If you're locked in back-to-back meetings all day, every day, it will take some real creativity on your part to manage this.
- You must have a strong desire to get work done and get out of the building. This is usually not a problem, but if you're looking to kill time at the office, this method won't help you much.
Assuming you meet those requirements, the method is dirt simple.
At the top of every hour, take the task that's highest in priority and work on it in a dead sprint---NO distractions---for a full 45 minutes. That's it. Just get as much of it done as you possibly can in that time window.
Then, like you're taking the SAT, pencils down. Get up from your desk and go do something else. Visit the restroom, get a cup of coffee, go check in with a friend, check your phone, whatever. Do NOT do anything directly related to the work you have (at least not today's work) if you can at all avoid it. The purpose of the 15 minute break is to allow you to mentally cool down after your sprint. You're jogging here, not looking to start another sprint.
When the top of the hour arrives again, heads down and get running. Repeat throughout your day.
At the end of the day, take a moment and look at how much you've gotten done. If your experience is similar to mine, you'll be astonished at how much more you've accomplished in the day.
Now about those back-to-back meetings:
Start lobbying your colleagues to end meetings 10 - 15 minutes before the top of the hour. The practical reason is to provide time for attendees to make it to their next meetings and not be late. You'll get the benefit of being fully present in the meeting for that core time while not having to worry about making it to the next one. It is a matter of the meeting chair having respect for their colleagues to grant such a request. If they don't, slide out of the meeting at that time anyway and tell them you need to use the restroom or to get to the next one on time. If you do this, you can steer your meeting culture in a fashion which will let you maintain your intervals throughout your day. Everyone else's productivity will likely improve too.
Give it a shot and feel free to let me know how it works and what variations you discover on this theme. There's a lot more information on this topic to share with you, but I'm at the end of my own sprint and must follow my own advice.